


Enough

by Hogsnkisses



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Castle Byers (Stranger Things), Fluff, Gay Will Byers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mike Wheeler Being an Asshole, Mike Wheeler Being an Idiot, One-Sided Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Sad Will Byers, Scene Rewrite, Takes place during season 3, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Will Byers Needs a Hug, no beta cause im a little silly goose, or maybe not??? its open to interpretation, yall know what scene im talking about you know the one :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:46:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29252442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hogsnkisses/pseuds/Hogsnkisses
Summary: Scene Rewrite"It's not my fault you don't like girls!"Basically how I wished it would've gone.
Relationships: Will Byers & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 2
Kudos: 64





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is how I wish this scene would've gone. I tagged it as byler but its only really mentioned on wills part, so fair warning about that. please enjoy and feel free to leave a comment! they really make my day :)
> 
> CW: MINOR INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA ON WILLS PART

  
  
  


“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.” 

Will felt his heart drop. Mike paused for a moment, noticing the hurt in his best friend’s face, but continued on soon afterwards. 

He continued on. Will didn’t know why that hurt as much as it did. 

He could feel a sob rising in his throat as Mike continued talking, clearly not seeing or caring how much his words had hurt. Will decides then and there that he’s done. 

He got on his bike wordlessly and pedaled off. He decides he doesn’t care that it's raining. He doesn’t care that Mike is calling his name, clearly surprised and little hurt. He doesn’t care that he cut Mike off, and he doesn’t care that his face was wet before he stepped into the rain. 

Fuck, he doesn’t think he cares about anything anymore. He just wants to go home. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike had the feeling that he had messed up almost instantly after he had said it. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with, and he hated it. Too often had he said the exact wrong thing and only realized after the damage was done. It was one of his least favorite things about himself. 

He saw the hurt in Will’s face, and he wondered if he had gone too far. He tried to fix it, to explain. He wanted to scream that he was sorry, that he wasn’t really like this, that he didn’t mean it. He hoped that maybe Will wasn’t as devastated by those words as he looked. 

“Look,” He said, quieter now. “I’m not trying to be an asshole-” 

He was cut off by Will hopping on his bike and leaving without saying another word. 

That’s when Mike  _ knew _ deep down and resolutely that he had fucked up. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ride home was wet and miserable, but Will didn’t allow himself to cry. The rain beat down upon his face in heavy rivets, and he could barely see, but he did not shed a single tear. God, his best friend already thought he was some kind of fairy… what would he think if he cried now? The thought of Mike thinking that about him was almost too much to bear, and Will could feel his stomach turn upside down at the thought. 

Mike  _ knew _ . 

Mike knew before Will was ever ready to tell him, before Will was ready to ever tell anyone, and Will was pretty sure that was a fate worse than death. 

Cause if Mike knew  _ that _ about Will, it wouldn’t be long until he figured  _ it _ out. 

Mke wasn’t dumb, after all. An asshole? Maybe. But he was smart. It wouldn’t be long until he realized how often Will’s stare lingered. How he came alive every time Mike placed a hand on his back or threw an arm around his shoulder. He would remember all the times Will would draw Mike’s paladin “for the campaign” and he would understand why Will never made Lucas’s ranger or Dustin’s bard. He would piece it all together. 

A dark voice whispered inside of him that Mike probably already  _ had  _ figured it out, and Will felt his whole body go limp. He was lucky that he was nearly home, because he didn’t think he could ride much longer. He didn’t have it in him. 

His house came into view, and he stepped off his bike and slammed it into the ground. It landed with a clang and Will couldn’t find it in himself to care. He took off, he ran to the only place that had ever been able to bring him comfort no matter what he was going through. 

Castle Byers stood proudly in front of him, and he stooped down and headed inside. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike had tried calling after Will. He had tried to reason with him. 

“Will, c’mon, It’s pouring!” 

“Please come back!” 

“I’m  _ sorry _ !” 

Nothing worked, and Mike only waited until Will was disappearing over the horizon to spring into action. 

He ran back inside, door slamming behind him. He leaped down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and rushed back into the basement that Lucas was still standing in. He looked a little confused still, and Mike didn’t bother explaining everything. 

“Will is riding his bike home.” He started. Lucas’ s eyes widened in shock. 

“ _ Now?”  _ He asked incredulously. “But it’s-”

“Raining, I know. I’m gonna go after him.” Mike said, cutting him off. Lucas looked like he was about to protest, but Mike didn’t stick around to hear what he was about to say. Instead, he raced back up the stairs, hopped on his own bike, and pedaled off into the rain to try and fix what he had just destroyed. 

The rain was coming down in bullets, and Mike couldn’t fully look at where he was going, but it didn’t matter. He knew the path to Will’s house by heart, and so he focused on the ground and made his way to Will painstakingly. 

He spent the whole ride there beating himself up. He was so stupid. He couldn’t believe he had done this again. And this time? It was to his best friend, one of his favorite people in the entire world. Will had been through enough. He didn’t need Mike’s own bullshit on top of that. But of course, Mike had made things worse like he always did, and now he was left to pick up the pieces. His only hope at this point was that Will would at least hear what he had to say… not that he knew what that was going to be yet. 

He sighed, pedaling even faster. He had some thinking to do. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will sat down in the only place that had ever brought him genuine comfort and felt nothing. 

He was surprised, really. Being here, surrounded by everything he loved had always worked before. He had his comic books, his friends, his drawings… you name it. If Will liked it, it was here. So why wasn’t it working? 

He took a look around, confused. He tried grabbing a comic book and flipping through it. He looked at all the characters he admired and felt absolutely nothing. He grabbed a stuffed animal, and tried hugging it close. He immediately felt silly, and he threw it to the side angrily. Why wasn’t this working? 

He grabbed the picture of him and his friends at the science fair, the year before he had gone missing. They were all so young and innocent looking. He could hardly believe it... and that’s when he realized. 

It was all so stupid and childish. His comic books were babyish, His old teddy bear? Pathetic. He realized then that his friends had grown up without him. He’d been lost in another dimension, then possessed by an other-worldly demon, and while he was gone his friends had been getting girlfriends, living life. Without him. He was stuck in the past. Everything he cared about was a reminder of his life that he now knew he would never, ever get back. A childhood he never got to have. They’d matured while he was stuck as the same old sad little kid. 

And he was furious. 

His closest friends had moved on, without him. 

How could they do that to him?

Finally, the tears started to fall. Finally, he had realized. And now that the tears had started, he wasn’t sure they’d ever stop. 

“Stupid…” He muttered, ripping the picture of him and friends into tiny pieces. 

“Stupid…” He said louder this time, ripping all the drawings and posters off of the walls. 

He was still screaming those bitter words when he grabbed the baseball bat. 

He was a wreck, sobbing and screaming while he beat down the last place he had ever felt good or safe. After a while, he threw the bat down and went in with his hands. He felt his hands get scraped and he felt the splinters and he just couldn’t bring himself to care as he ripped his home away from home to shreds. 

After his castle had fallen, he’d collapsed. He was so, so tired. His hands hurt, and he just couldn’t stop crying no matter how hard he tried. He knew he’d regret this, and he knew Jonathan would be devastated, and he sobbed even harder. He couldn’t believe this. He just couldn’t. 

The rain poured down around him, and he was once again soaked with rain and tears. He pulled his knees up to chest and rested his aching hands around them. He let his head fall into his knees. 

And that’s how he stayed. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike wasted no time in tossing his bike to the ground and heading to the back of Will’s house. He knew Will well enough by now to know that he’d be in Castle Byers. He didn’t know what he’d do when he got there, but he knew that he had to do  _ something.  _ Anything he could do, he would. He just had to make things right. 

When Mike reached the backyard, he was absolutely shocked. There was Will, the sweetest, gentlest, and kindest boy he’d ever known with a baseball bat. 

He knew Will, and Will loved to create. This was the boy who spent hours upon hours creating his artwork. 

And now? Now he had a baseball bat, and he was beating down on Castle Byers like  _ it _ was the one who had hurt him.

Mike watched for a moment, absolutely horrified. It was only when Will had collapsed onto the floor in sobs did he spring into action. 

“Will!” He could hear himself shouting. He didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t think there was anything he could say. He settled for his name again. “Will!” 

Will looked up, confused. Mike’s heart ached as Will recognized him and flinched. Mike didn’t think he had ever felt worse. He was over to Will’s side, hands hovering over him and unsure of what to do, before he could even stop to think. 

Will’s eyes were averted to the ground, and he was still shaking with sobs. Mike watched as he squeezed his eyes shut and opened his arms up, his head still pointed towards the ground. 

It took Mike just a single split second to realize what Will was asking for, and he wasted no time after that gathering Will up in the most comforting hug he could muster. 

Mike didn’t know what felt worse, the fact that he could feel Will shaking in his arms and sobbing, or the fact that Will  _ still  _ looked to him for comfort after he had been acting like a huge asshole. 

He shook his head, trying to clear that thought away. Will needed him right now. He could apologize later. 

“Hey.” He said, in the most comforting tone he could muster. He tried to remember how Nancy or his mom sounded whenever he was upset, and mimic that. It kind of worked. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay, Will. I’ve got you.” 

“M-Mike!” Will wailed, and Mike shushed him. 

“Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay. Let’s get you inside, yeah?” 

When Will didn’t protest, Mike hauled himself up to his feet and offered Will a hand. Will reached for it, but then quickly drew it back and hid his hands from Mike, eyes averted to the ground again. 

“Will? What’s wrong?” Mike asked, confused. He looked to where Will was attempting to shield his hands and saw a sharp gleam of blood mixed in with rain.  _ Oh.  _ He crouched back down to the ground, this time grabbing Will by his forearms and hauling him up with him. 

Will leaned on him heavily, and Mike struggled to support his weight as they shuffled into Will’s house, together. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will hadn’t felt this tired in a very long time. He knew, deep down, he should be rejecting Mike’s help. He was honestly surprised Mike had even come. He knew he should have told Mike to just leave him alone, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted so badly for someone to comfort him, to just tell him that things would be okay. And hell, if the only person who was there to do that right now was Mike, then Will would take what he could get. 

Mike wasted no time in getting him inside, and soon Will found himself sitting in one of the kitchen table’s chairs. He could feel his whole body sag, and he looked up with tired eyes when Mike crouched down to get to eye level with him and started talking. 

“Will? I’m gonna go get you some dry clothes and some bandages or something, okay? I’ll be right back.” 

Will nodded tearfully, and Mike turned and walked out of the room. 

Will took the time to inspect his hands while Mike was gone. There were a few splinters, and a couple spots that had minor scrapes. There was one spot, right underneath his right middle finger, that had been ripped. Will assumed it had probably been torn open by a stray nail or something, and he winced as he looked at it. It was still bleeding quite a bit, and Will was sure it would spill onto the floor soon. He hoped Mike came back quickly. 

Right on cue, as if Will had summoned him, Mike walked back in. He was holding a towel and washcloth, some dry sweatpants and a hoodie, and the first aid kid. He set everything next to Will, then went over to the sink and filled a bowl with warm water. 

He grabbed a chair and pulled it so it was facing Will, then dropped down into it. He looked at Will seriously. 

“Will? I’m gonna try and clean your hands. Is that okay? It might hurt a little bit…” He asked. He waited for Will’s timid nod before getting started. 

Will told himself that he would absolutely  _ not  _ cry while Mike was cleaning his hands. He was trying so hard, but it hurt way worse than he had expected. His hands were full of splinters and dirt, and he was seriously struggling to hold back tears as Mike methodically worked at fixing them.

Mike must’ve noticed, because after a while, he stopped and looked up at Will. “Will” He said gently “It’s okay if it hurts.” 

That was all it took for the tears to spill over again, and Will felt ashamed as they dripped down his face. 

Mike finished soon after that, and Will quickly wiped the tears away once his hands were free. Mike mentioned something about Will getting changed, and then stepped out of the room. 

Once Will was finished, he stepped into the living room where Mike had gone. Mike was sitting on the floor, probably to avoid getting the couch wet. Will sat down next to him, knees not quite touching. 

He longed to crawl into his lap and hide his face, like they’d used to do when they were young, before they knew any better. He didn’t. Will knew he was being stupid. He was still very upset with Mike after all. He shouldn’t want anything to do with him, really. 

He hated that he still did, desperately. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike didn’t know how long they sat there, silently. He spent their time in solitude just trying to think of something to say. He didn’t want to say just anything… he wanted to make things right. 

He just wasn’t really sure how. 

They sat there in silence for so long that Mike was surprised when Will spoke up. 

“So…” He started, clearly not knowing what to say. Mike watched him. He looked very nervous. 

“Will?” 

“Yeah, Mike?” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I know it’s not good enough, I just- I don’t know what else to say.” 

“ _ Mike Wheeler  _ doesn’t know what to say?’ Will joked, sadly. Mike’s lips quirked up into a half smile. “I thought I’d never see the day.”

Mike shoved him gently, playfully, and Will laughed. 

After a minute of silence, Mike slung his arm around Will’s shoulders, and he felt Will lean into the embrace. 

He might not have known how to say he was sorry, but he vowed then and there that he would figure out how to show him, somehow. Whatever it took, he would do it. 

The rain beat down upon the window. Mike knew he’d have to call his Lucas, who was still alone at his house. Will knew he’d have to explain what happened to Castle Byers to Jonathan and everyone else, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. 

But that could wait. Right now, they sat in silence and enjoyed each other’s company. 

And that was enough. 


End file.
